Next version of OS X to be more iOS-like than ever with Mountain Lion

Apple plans to release the next major version of Mac OS X to users this summer …

Apple significantly accelerated the upgrade cycle for Mac OS X on Thursday, announcing just seven months after the release of Lion that the next major version of OS X will be available in summer 2012. Dubbed Mountain Lion (we note no mention of a version number, like 10.8), the new OS will bring even more iOS-like features to the Mac, including Messages, Notes, and Reminders. Registered Mac developers have access to the first developer preview starting today.

Mountain Lion will offer increased integration between iOS and OS X. A new Messages app replaces iChat, which can send messages, video, and images between Macs and iOS devices (yes, iMessage has come to the desktop). According to Apple, Messages will continue to support AIM, Jabber, Yahoo Messenger, and Google Talk. A beta version of Messages is available to all Lion users starting today (thought at the time of publishing the download is currently unavailable).

Notification Center on Mac OS X Mountain Lion is hidden under the Desktop.

Mountain Lion will also include Mac versions of Notes, Reminders, Game Center, Notification Center, Share Sheets, OS-wide Twitter integration, and AirPlay Mirroring. Many of the new apps, such as Notes, Reminders, and Messages, will sync seamlessly with iOS devices and other Macs connected to your iCloud account. Game Center will enable live multiplayer gameplay between Macs, iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches.

Share Sheets will let users share and tweet links, photos, and videos from any app that supports them, including Safari, Quick Look, Preview, and more. Third party developers will be able to add Share Sheet support to their own apps as well. Notification Center will centralize alerts from apps like Mail, Calendar, and Reminders, as well as offering a centralized API for developers to send alerts as well (so long, Growl). Finally, AirPlay Mirroring enables any Mac to send a 720p video stream to an Apple TV (though apparently not to an iOS device).

AirPlay Mirroring sends a 720p stream of your desktop to any Apple TV.

Mountain Lion includes additional improvements, like updated iCloud support. In addition to offering a single sign-in to set up Contacts, Mail, Calendar, Messages, FaceTime, and Find My Mac, improved iCloud Documents APIs will make it easier to keep files stored in iCloud updated across Macs and iOS devices. There's also improved Chinese language support, including access to common services like Baidu, QQ, Youku, Tudou, Sina weibo, as well as enhancements to Chinese input.

An interesting new feature called Gatekeeper is designed to offer improved security for installed third-party apps. Essentially, Gatekeeper can be configured to install apps from any source, from developers with a special developer ID provided by Apple labeling them as "trusted," or strictly from the Mac App Store. Users have expressed concern since the introduction of the Mac App Store that Apple would eventually limit all app downloads to those from the Store; while Gatekeeper could be viewed as another step towards that goal, we think it provides some level of granularity in controlling what sources a user can get apps from. Furthermore, it will likely be a welcome feature in enterprise settings, where admins could limit access as required by security policies without completely eliminating the ability for users to install apps themselves.

Gatekeeper will let users set their Mac to install any app, apps from "trusted" sources, or Mac App Store only.

Developers gain access to "hundreds" of new APIs, many of which debuted on iOS 5, such as GLKit for integration OpenGL support. Other APIs include GameKit, 64-bit QuickTime, and enhanced multitouch. Mountain Lion will also include a revamped graphics subsystem and improved address space layout randomization for better security.

As noted, Mac OS X Mountain Lion is expected to be released this summer, and will likely be a $29.99 purchase via the Mac App Store.

289 Reader Comments

If you use the software correctly, and you backed up a corrupted file. Then go back till you find one without corruption. If you're making frequent changes to the file, then you should be the first to notice that it's bad, and go back for the good copy. How am I being unclear?

ZFS means less work in this regard. How am I being unclear? Great backups are great. Adding their verification system features to a filesystem to reduce the chances of data corruption is a great idea. Not arguing that backups aren't great or capable of keeping a un-corrupted copy --- assuming they got an uncorrupted copy in the first place. Yes, even humans can miss corruption of valuable data until it is too late, even under their very noses.

I've never made out that backups aren't necessary, nor that ZFS is the ultimate solution. But it is a damn good one that would be a significant step forward for any OS to incorporate. Reduce the workload. Wonderful.

If you are arguing that you can ensure that a uncorrupted version is available somewhere. I agree with you. But it is a work-around to a problem that the risk of occurrence can be engineered out to reduce the workload. Eliminate the corruption before the backup is a good thing, no?

Edit: No, looking back I did say, "Doesn't help with the silent corruption problem of 'larger' drives. " when I should have said, "While that can help, it is an unnecessary increase in the workload due to being a procedure workaround when the problem can be engineered out." I apologise. A tape backup could help with the silent corruption problem.

Edit: No, looking back I did say, "Doesn't help with the silent corruption problem of 'larger' drives. " when I should have said, "While that can help, it is an unnecessary increase in the workload due to being a procedure workaround when the problem can be engineered out." I apologise. A tape backup could help with the silent corruption problem.

TY! I was trying hard to be clear, but I really didn't know what else to say? I don't see hard drives as a backup medium. The origional poster was talking like their valuable data was backed up to HDD, and I see tape as much safer for long term. If you use ZFS, or backup software I still see tape as the answer. HDDs are too fragile.

I am just now experimenting with ZFS on Linux, when I have more time I plan to learn Solaris (luminos). The only real change for us, is moving the tape machine from one host, to the one with ZFS.

Maybe if apple spent as much money on OSX as they do on law suits, we would have a decent Lion that is stable, doesn't screw up our work flows and is a pleasure to work, with instead of the piece of crap we are stuck with

Edit: No, looking back I did say, "Doesn't help with the silent corruption problem of 'larger' drives. " when I should have said, "While that can help, it is an unnecessary increase in the workload due to being a procedure workaround when the problem can be engineered out." I apologise. A tape backup could help with the silent corruption problem.

TY! I was trying hard to be clear, but I really didn't know what else to say? I don't see hard drives as a backup medium. The origional poster was talking like their valuable data was backed up to HDD, and I see tape as much safer for long term. If you use ZFS, or backup software I still see tape as the answer. HDDs are too fragile.

I am just now experimenting with ZFS on Linux, when I have more time I plan to learn Solaris (luminos). The only real change for us, is moving the tape machine from one host, to the one with ZFS.

Just make it so the scrollbar appears when I hover over the edge of a window so I can click-to-jump again.

Oh, I hadn't even thought of that--I set scrollbars to always appear on Lion after about 15min of frustration and deciding I'd never get used to not having the visual info they provide (like document size/length, in particular). So with them set to only appear when used, there's no way to use the mouse to jump screenfuls?

With them set to only appear when used, there's no way to use the mouse to jump screenfuls?

Just tested it here on Lion: if I hover the pointer over where the scrollbars would be, they reappear, and I can then click to jump a screen up or down.

They are only appearing for you because you are stroking the back of your Magic Mouse without realising it. Gripping the mouse by its sides and moving horizontally towards the edge of the window only reveals the <=> frame adjustment contextual pointer. This means that the UI is not properly "discoverable".